Old timer in the pipe shop taught me to never trust a manual chainfall

Back in '09 I was working a shutdown at a chemical plant in Baton Rouge. This grizzled guy named Roy pulled me aside after I set up a chainfall on a beam that looked solid. He pointed at a hairline crack I never would have seen and said 'that beam will dump your load and maybe you with it.' Saved me from a mess. Still think about that whenever I rig something up. Any of you guys have an old hand save you from something dumb early on?

3 comments

3 Comments

parker_palmer441mo ago

Roy's the kind of guy every greenhand needs to run into, lol. The thing that gets me is how many folks today trust that a beam is good just because it looks painted and straight. Hairline cracks in older plants are a nightmare and you'd never spot them without someone pointing them out first.

taylorshah1mo ago

Do you think the issue is that newer guys rely too much on load charts and inspection stickers instead of actually looking at the steel itself? I feel like Roy's generation had to trust their eyes because they got burned before computers could tell them a beam was fine.

milam481mo agoMost Upvoted

Wait, is that actually true about Roy's generation? From what I've heard from the old-timers at our shop, they had a bunch of bad calls too, just without anyone keeping records. I think the real difference is they had to own their mistakes out loud, while now the chart gets blamed.